Exelica
by Brownbug
Summary: "We have to catch a homicidal, matter-sucking metal spider," Rory said in a resigned voice. "Naturally, I should have known." The Doctor takes Amy and Rory for a holiday on the rainforest planet Exelica, only to end up fighting for their lives...again.
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer: Guess what, I still don't own Doctor Who...**_

_**Summary: The Doctor takes Amy and Rory for a quiet holiday on the rainforest planet Exelica, only to end up fighting for their lives...again.**_

**_Author's Note: Hi all! I've been bitten by a short plot bunny, so I'm just experimenting with a short story, with VERY short chapters (so no complaining please - they are what they are). This is an Eleven, Amy and Rory fic, which has no links to my usual Whoniverse...YET..._**

**_NB: For those who are wondering, yes, I am still working on the next chapter of "The Master's Rose", hopefully it will be up soon - this is just a bit of a light diversion for me.  
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><p><strong>CHAPTER ONE<strong>

"The planet Exelica!" the Doctor announced happily, his boyish face alight with delight. "Just the place to rest and recharge our batteries! If we had batteries...which, of course, we don't. Probably just as well, really – very inefficient power source, batteries are. Always running down right when you need them."

Amy Pond gave an exasperated sigh. "Doctor, you're rambling again."

"Am I?" the Doctor replied absently, tweaking a few controls on the console. "I really must stop doing that. Right then. Where was I?"

"The planet Exelica," Rory reminded him.

The Doctor's face lit up all over again. "Ah yes! Wonderful place. Some of the most beautiful rainforest in the entire Universe. Trees that are thousands of years old, reaching for the sun. Everything cool and green, waterfalls sparkling like jewels, shimmering butterflies every colour of the rainbow. Not to mention some of the cheekiest monkeys I've ever met."

"It sounds fabulous!" Amy exclaimed, beginning to be infected by his enthusiasm.

"Yeah, _too_ fabulous," Rory muttered glumly. "Because every time you promise to take us somewhere fabulous, something_ always _goes wrong."

"Wrong?" the Doctor said in surprise. "Don't be so negative, Rory. What could possibly go wrong?"

With that, he pulled down hard on the materialisation lever. The TARDIS seemed to shudder and then there was a short, sharp bump, which almost knocked them off their feet. The steady hum of the engines cut out and the time rotor stopped oscillating, subsiding gracefully into the console.

"Besides," the Doctor grinned, straightening his bow tie. "We're already here."

Almost bouncing with excitement, he led the way down the stairs to the TARDIS entrance. "Come along, Ponds!" he called, turning to face them and jauntily walking backwards through the doors. "Prepare to be amazed." Raising his arms in the air like an orchestra conductor, he gave a dramatic, flourishing gesture. "Ladies and gentlemen, I give you...the planet Exelica!"

Following him outside, Amy and Rory simply stared at him.

"What, no applause?" he complained, his face falling in disappointment. "Blimey, tough crowd!"

"Um...Doctor?" Amy said gently. "Turn around."

He frowned and then spun around in an abrupt movement. "Ah," he murmured, taking in the landscape spread out before him. "Right."

There was no rainforest, no spreading green canopy of leaves, no glimmering waterfalls, no chattering monkeys. In fact, there were no trees at all and no immediate signs of life. They appeared to have landed in a desert. Huge dunes of colourless sand loomed around them, constantly sifting and trickling in the hot breeze. Overhead, the sky was blue and cloudless, a malignant sun hurling its rays down to scorch the planet below.

The Doctor blinked in confusion. "This can't be right," he said, reaching into his pocket for his sonic screwdriver.

"Looks like the TARDIS got it wrong again," Rory groaned and then jumped, as the wind tossed his voice back to him in a mournful whisper. "Wherever we are, this place is seriously creepy."

"No," the Doctor returned, his brow creased in concentration as he turned in a slow circle, his screwdriver buzzing loudly. "We're in the right place. This is Exelica...or was, the last time I was here."

"Guess they must have had a pretty hot summer this year then," Rory said wryly, kicking at the piled up sand. "Because it looks a lot more like a desert than a rainforest."

"It isn't a desert."

Rory raised his eyebrows. "It isn't?"

"No," the Doctor answered, a grim look on his face as he crouching down and ran the soft sand between his fingers. "It isn't a desert because this isn't sand."

"OK, it's happened again, you've lost me," Rory grumbled, raising his eyes heavenwards. "If it isn't sand, what is it?"

"Entropy dust," the Time Lord said bleakly. "The rainforests of Exelica, atomised down to their most basic molecular structure. All that's left of one of the wonders of the Universe."

Before Rory could question him further, they were interrupted by Amy's voice calling to them urgently. Glancing up, they saw that she had climbed to the top of the nearest dune and was pointing frantically into the distance.

"Doctor! Rory! You've got to see this...NOW!"


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO**

Following in the Doctor's wake, Rory struggled to climb up the shifting dune, feeling the soft sand seeping insidiously into his shoes. The sensation made him shudder. He wasn't quite sure what entropy dust was, but the tone of the Doctor's voice had made it plain that it was nothing good. He couldn't shake the eerie feeling that he was walking over one big grave.

Things only got worse when he reached the top of the dune. Amy and the Doctor were looking out over a huge, bowl-like indentation in the ground, their faces horror-struck. For a moment, Rory thought he was gazing at some sort of strange lake, the silver surface heaving in a continuous, oddly unpleasant rhythm. But then he realised it was not liquid at all, but a vast, solid mass of insectile creatures, millions of them, walking over and under and around each other, teeming in endless, perpetual motion, each of them struggling upward to reach the light, only to be forced back down by a myriad of other creatures equally determined to end up on top.

"Well, that explains a lot," the Doctor said, his eyes darkened with disgust.

"Wh...what are they?" Amy gasped. "There are so many of them! Are they..._alive_?"

"In a manner of speaking," the Time Lord replied. "They're SRMs."

"SRMs?" Rory repeated, unable to take his gaze off the repulsive creatures crawling beneath them, his eyes unwillingly drawn in sick fascination to the undulating tangle of spindly legs.

"Self Replicating Machines," the Doctor explained. "Invented in the 51st century by Frederick Kreitzer, an engineer working for the Gaia Corporation on Earth. They were supposed to be the perfect tool for colonisation of sterile planets. All the Gaia Corporation had to do was to drop one SRM on to the surface of a planet and then sit back and watch. That initial SRM would then begin to absorb matter from its surroundings and convert it, using it to replicate itself almost instantly. From there, the process would continue and before long there would be four of them, then eight, and so on and so forth. Once they reached the optimum workforce number, they were programmed to stop replicating and begin terraforming the planet, commencing construction of cities and other vital infrastructure. In theory, the Gaia Corporation would end up with a brand new luxury settlement, just waiting for high-paying human colonists to move into – a very profitable venture indeed."

"You said 'in theory'? What happened?" Amy queried tensely.

The Doctors mouth tightened. "There was a problem with the code that never showed up in the developmental simulations. As it turned out, once released on the surface of a planet, the SRMs didn't pause to build a city. Instead they just kept on reproducing, continued eating up the planet to make copies of themselves, until there was nothing left. In the end, production and use of SRMs was deemed too risky and they were universally banned by the Shadow Proclamation."

"But they're here, on this planet!" Amy exclaimed. "The beautiful rainforest you told us about..."

"All gone," the Doctor ground out, his voice taut with anger. "Like so many other irreplaceable things, thanks to human greed."

Rory stared at the frenzied, pointless activity below. He couldn't help thinking how much the swarming creatures resembled horrible, long-legged silver spiders. Suddenly, with a thrill of horror, he realised the activity was no longer quite so pointless. Thousands of pairs of tiny, silver antennae were now waving in their direction, the apparently random movements of the SRMs coalescing and becoming more purposeful.

"Doctor..." he said warningly, his throat suddenly dry. He could see a wave building beneath them, swelling the rolling, grey surface. The SRMs were working together, standing on each other's backs, in a concerted, intelligent attempt to reach the three time-travellers watching from above.

"Uh-oh, not good," the Doctor breathed. "They've sensed the arrival of new raw materials, just waiting to be broken down and converted into new SRMs."

"_What _new raw materials?" Amy demanded, instinctively backing away as the seething tower of slender, silver limbs rose closer and closer.

"US!" the Doctor yelled. "RUN!"


	3. Chapter 3

_**Author's Note: Hello again, here's a bit more of this one. Big thanks to MayFairy, Aietradaea (x2), missawesome1213 and KilinicallyInsaneKoschei (x 2) for your reviews! I'm always so happy when you guys support my little "experiments" in writing - you are terrific beyond words.**_

_**At least with these short chapter, it's easy for me to update more often! Hope you like!**_

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><p><strong>CHAPTER THREE<strong>

"The TARDIS! Get to the TARDIS!" the Doctor yelled.

Amy and Rory needed no further encouragement. They were already running as fast as they could, heading back for the time machine. Behind them, there came a terrible, clicking, scuttling noise, the sound of thousands and thousands of thin metallic legs skittering over the sand, as the predatory swarm of SRMs boiled up and over the dunes in hot pursuit.

The three companions were losing their head start very, very quickly. Unlike the light, mobile SRMs, their bi-pedal humanoid bodies were not designed to travel efficiently through sand. Their feet seemed to sink deeper and deeper as they ran, the sand dragging at them, holding them back, sapping their strength with every step.

"Doctor!" Amy shrieked, her voice jagged with fear.

The Doctor looked at the TARDIS just up ahead and then glanced back over his shoulder at the fast-approaching horde of SRMs, his agile brain swiftly calculating their chances. He could hear his double heartbeat pounding in his ears. They were not going to make it. They were close now, so very close. But by the time they actually reached the TARDIS and he stopped to unlock it...

_Oh, this had better work, _he told himself as he ran, raising his fingers in the air and concentrating on the TARDIS. _Come on, old girl, don't let me down!_

_SNAP! _He clicked his fingers loudly and clearly, his gaze fixed on the blue-panelled doors. And for a few, tremulous seconds nothing happened.

_We're dead, _the Doctor thought. _We are so dead!_

But then the wooden doors swung inward, revealing the welcoming, warmly-lighted interior of the time machine. The sight encouraged the three fugitives to put on one last, desperate burst of speed. First Amy flung herself through the doors, closely followed by a panting Rory. The Doctor brought up the rear, wheeling around and slamming the doors shut, before engaging the dead lock, which automatically activated the ship's defence systems.

There was a huge jolt from the outside and the entire TARDIS shuddered as it was struck by the shining avalanche of silver.

The Doctor leant his back against the doors and slowly slid to the floor, his eyes closed in relief. Amy glanced up at him from where she had collapsed full-length on to the stairs leading to the console platform.

"Always...with...the..._running_!" she managed to choke out disapprovingly.

"Yes, well..." the Doctor replied, trying to get his heart-rate back under control. "Even I have to admit, that was a little too close for comfort."

"They...can't...get in, can they?" Rory asked worriedly. He was bent over double with his hands on his knees, sucking in great, ragged gasps of air.

"Of course not!" the Doctor said in a scornful tone, leaping to his feet again and heading up the stairs to the console. Then he added, "Well...not immediately, anyway..."

"Not _immediately_!" Amy echoed incredulously. "I thought you told me Genghis Khan and all his men couldn't get through those doors?"

"Genghis Khan didn't have an army of matter-converting SRMs on his side," the Doctor retorted, switching on the exterior scanner. All that could be seen on the large round screen was a silver tangle of spidery limbs. "They're all over us. We've been engulfed. _Engulfed! _ Don't you _love_ that word? The TARDIS has been _engulfed_ by SRMs. It's only a matter of time before they manage to break down our defence systems."

"Can't we just de-materialise?" Rory demanded. "Just disappear and leave them behind?"

"Yes, we could do that," the Doctor nodded, glancing at him sharply. "We could do that, Rory, if we were selfish, uncaring, irresponsible people who didn't bother about what happens to the rest of the Universe. Because all it takes is for just one of those creature to escape from Exelica out into space...just one...and then what happened to this planet will happen to another and then another and then another, until the entire Universe crumbles into dust. And we wouldn't want that to happen, would we, Rory? Because we're not selfish, uncaring, irresponsible people, are we?"

"Of course not!" Rory replied, stung by the Doctor's caustic tone.

"Of course not," the Time Lord repeated. "So glad we got that ironed out. Now you need to ask me how we stop them."

"How do we stop them?" Amy asked, shooting her husband a sympathetic look.

"I have no idea," the Doctor answered cheerfully. "First we need to catch one, so I can have a closer look at it."

"We have to catch a homicidal, matter-sucking metal spider," Rory said in a resigned voice. "Naturally, I should have known."

"Not to worry," the Doctor grinned. "I have a plan."


	4. Chapter 4

_**Author's Note: Hello again! Here's another (very little) bit! I have to say, these short chapters are very relaxing compared to my usual 4,000 word marathons. AND I got a few more reviews that time - thank you very much to MayFairy, KlinicallyInsaneKoschei, mericat, Aietradaea and Romana-II! I appreciate your feedback very much :)**_

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><p><strong>CHAPTER FOUR<strong>

Amy and Rory stared at the Doctor incredulously. He was standing at the top of the stairs leading to the console platform, holding a large mallet in one hand and an extremely long pair of BBQ tongs with rubber ends in the other, which he was brandishing like some sort of lop-sided crab.

"_That's_ your plan?" Amy said, folding her arms in disapproval. "Tell me you're kidding."

"Well, I didn't say it wouldn't be risky!" the Doctor answered testily. "Have either of you got a better idea?"

Then, when neither of his companions volunteered anything, he said, "No, I thought not. Right, let's go over it one more time. Like I said, first I'll program the TARDIS to electrify the outer hull, which will, in theory, temporarily stun the SRMs. Then you, Amy, will open the doors, I'll grab one of them with the tongs and drag it inside, Rory will disable it by whacking it with the mallet and Quences-setian-obayoloca-turgrathada-deyyi-lungbarrowmas is your Uncle!"

"Bob," Rory interjected, smothering an involuntary grin.

"What?"

"Bob. Bob's your Uncle," Rory repeated. "Not Quences whatever-his-name-is."

The Doctor frowned thoughtfully. "Oh. Really? The only Bob I ever knew was a Weeping Angel, not really someone you'd want as an uncle. Mind you, Quences whatever-his-name-is wasn't much of an uncle either, to be perfectly honest, completely insane and never _once_ remembered my birthday."

"Oh for goodness sake, who cares?" Amy yelled in frustration. "We've been engulfed by a crowd of weird metal spiders and you two stand around nattering about uncles. If we _have_ to do this, can we just get on with it please?"

"You know, if I didn't know better, I'd think you weren't enjoying yourself, Pond," the Doctor commented dryly, before reaching down the stairs to pass Rory the mallet and returning to the console. "Right, action stations. We'll have to be quick. The electric charge won't scramble their circuits for long. Ready?"

Rory was standing to one side of the door, the mallet held securely in a two-handed grip, while Amy had her fingers wrapped around the dead-lock, poised to snap it open.

"Ready!" they confirmed simultaneously.

With that, the Doctor twisted a dial on one of the control panels. On the round scanner screen they could see a network of blue-white electricity sparkling in vicious arcs across the mass of crawling cyborgs, sending their long, spindly limbs into jerky, uncontrollable spasms. The Doctor leapt down the stairs, the tongs snapping in his hands, his eyes bright with excitement.

"Now, Amy!" he shouted.

Obediently, she spun the dead-lock and hauled the door inward, revealing a tangled, impenetrable, twitching mass of silver. Moving like lightning, the Doctor thrust the long tongs into the seething host, clamping them down hard and fighting with all his strength to drag his captive free of its brothers. At last the struggling SRM came loose in a sudden rush. Taken by surprise, the Doctor staggered backwards, impelled by his own momentum, and the silver spider flew through the air over his head, before landing clumsily near the console stairs. Instantly, it began to scrabble around, trying to gain some purchase on the floor with its claw-like feet, its antennae waving malevolently.

But Rory was already striding toward it, the mallet raised high. In one smooth movement, he brought the large hammer down on to the creature's back, crushing it into the floor. To Rory's horror, it began to shriek, a thin, high-pitched, inhuman screaming that raised the hairs on the back of his neck. Without stopping to think, he instinctively smashed the mallet down again and again, until the appalling sound died away into silence.

Meanwhile, Amy was trying to slam the door closed. But, as the Doctor had predicted, the electrical charge had dissipated quickly and the SRMs were already beginning to recover, eager to resume their single-minded assault on the TARDIS. Only their sheer volume prevented them from tumbling through the door into the time-machine, each of them impeding the others, buying Amy a few more precious seconds.

Throwing her full weight against the door, she desperately attempted to hurl it shut. "Doctor!" she screamed. "Rory!"

Regaining his feet, the Doctor joined her in heaving at the door, while Rory used the mallet to batter savagely at the spidery limbs trying to force their way through the slowly-narrowing gap. At last, they managed to shove it closed and the Doctor engaged the dead-lock.

Breathing wildly, they all looked at each other, silly grins of relief beginning to spread across their faces as the adrenaline rush ebbed away and they realised they had been successful in their mission.

The Doctor cheerfully wiped the beads of sweat off his brow. "Whew, well done, Ponds!" he exclaimed. "I'm starting to think these things make old Genghis and his hordes look positively friendly!"

Rory relaxed his death-grip on the handle of the mallet, allowing it to slide away to the floor. "Now what?" he queried, putting his arm around Amy and drawing her close to him.

"Now comes the fun part," the Doctor said, walking towards the crushed remains of spider-creature lying nearby. "Now we get to find out exactly what's going on."


End file.
